What Will Monmouth’s Energy Future Look Like?

During some of the coldest days of winter in late February of this year, the natural gas reliant power plants that provide the majority of electricity to Texas were forced to cease their operations because of the threat that the extreme weather posed. This failure of the energy infrastructure of Texas had a ripple effect by both slowing the production of oil and natural gas based in Texas and by raising concerns about similar natural gas infrastructure around the country. These effects were felt around the country and even had some effect on us here as the gas provider for Monmouth expressed concern to the community about the extremely high demand for natural gas nationwide and advised Monmouth residents to limit their gas consumption where they could. Thankfully, the natural gas crunch in Texas and the United States as a whole soon passed, but the concerns that were raised by the crisis have lost none of their relevance.

Questions and concerns over where and how to generate electricity and energy have become more and more prominent over the last 50 years as the sources and consequences of climate change have become better known. Many institutions of higher learning have responded to the threats posed by climate change by trying to reduce their contributions to the causes of climate change, taking such actions as reducing their carbon output, modernizing their energy infrastructure, and renovating buildings to conserve energy. A group here at Monmouth is currently researching and working on such a plan to put Monmouth in the same category as American University in Washington, D.C., Colgate University, Middlebury College, the University of San Francisco, Bowdoin College, Bates College, and Colby College; all of which have succeeded in going carbon neutral.

The group that has been working on this plan consists of Professor Ken Cramer, Grace Simpson, Nyasina Kwamboka, and Danielle Ito-Labelle. Their goal is to lay out a plan, focusing mostly on energy usage, that would get Monmouth College to carbon neutrality in about 10 years. Some of the most important proposals made in the plan so far involve the establishment of a sustainability task force, the creation of a sustainability director position, the establishment of a Green Revolving Fund, and to have President Wyatt sign on to the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments; a pledge that college presidents and leadership can sign on to in order to indicate their commitment to ameliorating climate change. The group of students and Professor Cramer are still working out the more specific details relating to quantifying the college’s exact greenhouse gas emissions, finding places that the college can increase efficiency to save both energy and cash, and exploring the campus and community’s potential for turning to wind, solar, or biomass-based sources of energy. At time of writing, the group is planning to hold a presentation on April 23rd in order to more fully explain the path their research has taken and its potential impact on the school.

Joe Doner - Staff Writer